Author: Deborah L. Rhode File Type: pdf It hurts to be beautiful has been a cliche for centuries. What has been far less appreciated is how much it hurts not to be beautiful. The Beauty Bias explores our cultural preoccupation with attractiveness, the costs it imposes, and the responses it demands. Beauty may be only skin deep, but the damages associated with its absence go much deeper. Unattractive individuals are less likely to be hired and promoted, and are assumed less likely to have desirable traits, such as goodness, kindness, and honesty. Three quarters of women consider appearance important to their self image and over a third rank it as the most important factor. Although appearance can be a significant source of pleasure, its price can also be excessive, not only in time and money, but also in physical and psychological health. Our annual global investment in appearance totals close to $200 billion. Many individuals experience stigma, discrimination, and related difficulties, such as eating disorders, depression, and risky dieting and cosmetic procedures. Women bear a vastly disproportionate share of these costs, in part because they face standards more exacting than those for men, and pay greater penalties for falling short. The Beauty Bias explores the social, biological, market, and media forces that have contributed to appearance-related problems, as well as feminisms difficulties in confronting them. The book also reviews why it matters. Appearance-related bias infringes fundamental rights, compromises merit principles, reinforces debilitating stereotypes, and compounds the disadvantages of race, class, and gender. Yet only one state and a half dozen localities explicitly prohibit such discrimination. The Beauty Bias provides the first systematic survey of how appearance laws work in practice, and a compelling argument for extending their reach. The book offers case histories of invidious discrimination and a plausible legal and political strategy for addressing them. Our prejudices run deep, but we can do far more to promote realistic and healthy images of attractiveness, and to reduce the price of their pursuit. **From Publishers Weekly Beauty is in the eye of the job-holder, evidently. Referencing Plessy v. Ferguson (the 1896 Supreme Court decision affirming separate but equal racial policies) is proven more than apropos in Rhodes riveting overview of the ways in which appearance impacts hiring practices and job qualifications, in both overt and subtle ways. Legal or illegal is often beside the point when it comes to cases like those she surveys, though there are civil rights issues that immediately spring to mind for scholars in this field. The authors own experience with appearance expectations in the seemingly egalitarian world of academia notwithstanding, most of the cases and examples she provides are unfortunately not surprising. Covering a range of social classes, and tackling issues ranging from weight bias to the legality of forcing a college professor to change hairstyles, the book raises issues that will be debated for years to come. Rhodes argues that in jurisdictions with provisions protecting individuals from appearance-related discrimination in the workplace, the courts are not clogged with cases, contrary to the assumption of critics. Rhodes analysis includes many new cases for the edification of students and readers interested in law, sociology, or business. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Review The book is illuminating and important it explores the often unacknowledged, yet pervasive, discrimination against people, particularly women, who don t conform to mainstream notions of beauty and appearance [Rhode] is the one of the countrys leading scholars in legal ethics and gender Rhode is incredibly prolific.--Danielle Citron, Concurring Opinions [Rhode] is convincing in her arguments that laws punishing appearance discrimination might be a logical step in exactly the right direction its hard to deny the validity of the problem that she confronts. And its even harder to ignore the extent to which concerns about appearance shape our daily lives. Rhode so clearly enumerates the costs to society incurred by appearance discrimination that readers judges and lawmakers included will find themselves unsettled.--Christian Science Monitor Provocative Rhode is at her most persuasive when arguing that in the United States, the penchant to discriminate against unattractive women (and also short men) is as pernicious and widespread as bias based on race, sex, age, ethnicity, religion, and disability. She provides overwhelming evidence of bias against the overweight, the unattractive, and the aging. And while some of these cases may be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act or race discrimination law, most are not.--Dahlia Lithwick, Slate.com This book is extremely well written. There are plenty of everyday examples of appearance discrimination and the book is written with a passion and enthusiasm that sweeps the reader along...a call to arms...No doubt it will create a considerable body of literature and much debate.--Legal Studies Rhode writes clearly and thinks deeply. I found her case convincing morally and legally.--Dallas Morning News This is a well-researched and thoughtful exploration of beauty ideals in legal, professional and other hard-hitting real-life spheres. A serious contribution to the literature of the politics of appearance.--Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth Rhodes insightful analysis and lively writing style brilliantly lays out the ways in which prescriptions about appearance, whether mandated by the law, influenced by the billion dollar cosmetics industry, or the leaders of social movements, affect peoples opportunities and their everyday lives.--Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Past President, American Sociological Association Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center When the fastest-growing medical specialty is cosmetic surgery, we should all be concerned. Deborah Rhodes analysis offers real insight into what compels our beauty behavior, the economic consequences, and what we can-and must-do about it. This book should be on every womans bookshelf.--Kim Gandy, Former President, National Organization for Women Deborah Rhode uncovers beauty bias as an obstacle for women every bit as disabling as sex or gender discrimination, but more damaging because it is virtually immune to legal challenge. Her discourse and strategies for ending appearance discrimination speak to every woman and should be supported by all people concerned with social justice.--Herma Hill Kay, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

Author: Najat Rahman File Type: pdf Heralding a new period of creativity, In the Wake of the Poetic explores the aesthetics and politics of Palestinian cultural expression in the last two decades. As it increasingly gains a significant presence on the international scene, much of Palestinian art owes a debt to Mahmoud Darwish, one of the finest contemporary poets, and to Palestinian writers of his generation. Rahman maps the immense influence of Darwishs poetry on a new generation of performance artists, visual artists, spoken-word poets, and musicians. Through an examination of selected works by key artistssuch as Suheir Hammad, Ghassan Zaqtan, Elia Suleiman, Mona Hatoum, Sharif Waked, and othersRahman articulates an aesthetic founded on loss, dispersion, dispossession, and transformation. It interrupts dominant regimes, constituting acts of dissension and intervention. It reinscribes belonging and is oriented toward solidarity and future. This innovative wave of experimentation transforms our understanding of the national through the diasporic and the transnational, and offers a profound meditation on identity. **

Author: Simon Blackburn File Type: pdf Our self-image as moral, well-behaved creatures is dogged by scepticism, relativism, hypocrisy, and nihilism, by the fear that in a Godless world science has unmasked us as creatures fated by our genes to be selfish and tribalistic, or competitive and aggressive. In this clear introduction to ethics Simon Blackburn tackles the major moral questions surrounding birth, death, happiness, desire and freedom, showing us how we should think about the meaning of life, and how we should mistrust the soundbite-sized absolutes that often dominate moral debates. About the Series Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of lifes most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.Review`Review from previous edition Simon Blackburns short book takes the big moral questions head on and does so brilliantly. . . a witty, vivid writer with an enviable popular touch . . . this is a wonderfully enlightening book. Ben Rogers, Sunday Telegraph, `full of good sense Sunday Times `But for anyone wondering how big questions have bothered us over the years, this witty, rigorous book fills in the gaps. PLAY, The Times `always lively and never simplistic Waterstones Quarterly January 2002 `Good clearheaded stuff Ted Honderich, The Times `enjoyable and extremely readable . . . Blackburn . . . is breezy, helpful, reassuring The Philosophers Magazine `sparklingly clear Guardian `a first rate and accessible guide which tackles the huge, perpetual questions Nottingham Evaning Post About the AuthorSimon Blackburn is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. Until recently he was Edna J. Doury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, and from 1969 to 1999 a Fellow and Tutor at Pembroke College, Oxford. His books include Spreading the Word (1984), Essays in Quasi-Realism (1993), The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (1994), Ruling Passions (1998), and Truth (co-edited with Keith Simmons, 1999), and the best-selling Think (1999). He edited the journal Mind from 1984 to 1990.

Author: Ronald L. Carter File Type: pdf The Criminals Image of the City focuses on the factors influencing the increase in crimes in cities, taking into consideration the behavior patterns of criminals. The manuscript first details approaches on the spatial and environmental analyses of crimes. The text then takes a look at the conceptual framework needed in understanding the spatial activity of criminals through their environmental perceptions. Considerations include criminals evaluation of their environments, distinguishing property crime and property criminals, and offender and non-offender samples. The publication examines how criminals perceive the different areas of cities and how they assess such areas as targets for the commission of crimes. The text also reviews the relationship of public policy and criminal behavior with area images, including approaches to crime prevention, crime and environmental design, predicting locales for crime, relationship between images and behavior, and implementation problems. The book is a useful reference for readers wanting to dig deeper into the behavior of criminals. **